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Kiss- a verb- defined as “a touch or caress with the lips as a sign of love, sexual desire or greeting”. Well, that’s how the Oxford dictionary defines it. It is not a new thing and neither is it something disgusting that it should be done secretly. We see it in movies; we don’t have a problem with that. And we see it at airports and hospitals, where people need to assure themselves and the one they love that they are not dreaming. What can possibly be ‘bad’ or ‘immoral’ about two adults kissing at a ‘not-so-private’ place? I don’t find anything wrong with it. Except, of course, if you are a Dementor. Now that would be a totally different issue…

Apparently, kissing is against Indian culture. That’s what has caused this mass protest. The protest at Kochi didn’t end very well. Couples got arrested and it was quite chaotic. Which is funny, because when a woman goes with a complaint of sexual harassment, she is expected to explain what was said and done to her, but if she is willing to kiss and get kissed, she needs to be arrested because she’s immoral. But the protest held at the University of Hyderabad campus in support of the protestors at Kochi got more attention than the actual protest. Well, the protest was organized in support of Kiss of Love and it was supposed to be a peaceful gathering with lectures and discussions against moral policing. But, the protest against this (wow! A protest against a protest in support of a protest!) resulted in things escalating to an unmanageable level. Some of the protestors got really pissed off and kissed (which the cameramen, irrespective of the channel they belong to, concentrated on, deliberately forgetting to shoot the rest of the event).

The interesting part is people’s (facebook) reactions to the event. The female protestors are being slut-shamed by guardians of Indian Culture who believe that kissing in public is a disgusting act as it might affect the psychology of children. You see, children will watch these things in the news and wonder about all the fuss about kissing and kiss protest (like children watch news and as if they have never seen a lip lock in films). Children, unlike the perverted grown-ups, are innocent creatures. They have no clue what sex is, and when they see two people kissing, they don’t associate it with sex like we adults do. For them private parts are ‘dirty’ just because they are associated with excretion. And we are the ones who teach them what is bad. If you are going to tell your kids that kissing is dirty, that women who drink and wear short clothes are bad and a lot of other meaningless bullshit, you’ll be successfully raising another generation of men who will rape women (and infants) just because they ‘feel like it’ and women who will say it was the victim’s fault. We have no problem in exposing kids to religion, the most dangerous of all things. It’s alright to tell them about eternal fire. It’s perfectly okay to tell them about gods who abandon their wives for no good reason. It’s okay to tell them that theirs is the true religion and that their ‘God’ is going to punish everybody else for not following Him. But it is not alright to expose them to love, because it will make them immoral. I really don’t get the logic here. Nobody who grew up seeing their parents kissing became a terrorist. But those raised by extremely religious parents…well, I need not state the obvious.

Some people are okay with the act of kissing, but believe that it is embarrassing to others when done in public. Why would it be embarrassing, if the so-called public can ignore it and carry on with whatever they are doing, just like they do when somebody is peeing, spitting, or littering? Not that I’m comparing kissing with any of those. But, I was just wondering why nobody gets arrested for urinating or spitting in public. And saying that ‘kissing openly’ is against Indian Culture is total bullshit. We belong to the land of Kamasutra. Oh yeah, some ‘upright’ assholes actually go to the extent of saying that the Kamasutra and erotic architecture was brought to India by foreign invaders to pollute the Indian Culture. But it is really sad to see such extremism against love in a land which used to be liberal and open-minded about sex and at the same time, quite funny, how we use the Victorian ideals given to us by the so-called West to criticize them. Public Kissing! Sex education! Ufff…bad influence coming from the West!!!

Personally, I don’t find anything wrong or vulgar about kissing in public. To this, some might ask (some already did) whether I’ll be comfortable having sex in public. Well, no. But that’s because of issues related to hygiene and not morality. And those who think couples shouldn’t be kissing because there are horny retards out there who can harass them…don’t you think it’s based on the same logic that tells women “Don’t drink. Don’t wear provocative clothes. Don’t stay out after dark. There are perverts out there who will rape you.” ???

Meanwhile, I’m wondering about whether or not I should resist my urge to kiss my boyfriend when I go to the airport to receive him, in a few days. And, yes, on my way to the airport, I should remember to keep my nose covered at a few turnings to avoid being nauseated by the stench of garbage and urine. And if somebody makes a vulgar comment about me, I should just look away and wrap a scarf around me…

You see, you can’t stop long enough to stop and stare at the people pissing (there’s an entire stretch near a bus stop on my way home, I can’t stand the stench from a bus on the road more than a hundred metres away, yet people go there and happily piss some more – I wrote about it long ago), at least not long enough for you to embarrass them, whereas you can do so with kissing couples (for now, let’s just stick to two people kissing 😉 ). You see? No stench involved, no danger of gagging, so you can just stand around and watch them long enough and see what they are doing to our culture…

And littering in public isn’t a big deal – you see, you don’t need to hold hands with a member of the opposite (or, horror of horrors, same) sex to throw some trash on the road or out of the bus window. Then why would it bother us? *shakes head in exasperation*

P.S. : sorry, still under a sarcasm hangover…

P.P.S. : By the way, kiss your boyfriend ,by all means, when you go to receive him 🙂 If someone stares/comments, just glare back, I guess that should do… Why should you look away or wrap your scarf around yourself?

I agree with you that people shouldnt care if someone is caught kissing in public. Watching kisses in movies has taken years for the audience to become comfortable with the idea. Even then, some cringe when the scenes crop up. I am completely fine with someone stealing a quick peck… What would be my reaction if I saw someone make out with full force in a bus or a train? I would politely tell them to get a room 🙂 No moral policing here but I dont see why private emotions should be expressed in public. But then thats me. I am not much of a PDA person. If someone is comfortable with it, they should go for it. I live in Singapore and I see couples (most of the times kids) making out in buses, mrts etc. Most of the times they are on their way back from school. Do I find it awkward? Yes! But thats mostly because they are kids and not because they are making out.

Exactly! Just because a few (or may be many) are not comfortable with something does not make that something a crime. If somebody is really uncomfortable with PDA, they would just ignore it or feel awkward till they get away from the ‘scene’. Moral policing on the other hand, is a result of frustration.
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